This invention relates to digital communications systems and methods, and more particularly to systems and methods for estimating a channel response from training symbols that are received over a channel.
Digital communications systems and methods are widely used for voice, image and/or data communications. As is well known to those having skill in the art, when communicating wirelessly, the time-varying multipath fading of wireless channels may make reliable transmission difficult. In efforts to reduce the effect of such time-varying channels, it is known to transmit a sequence of training symbols, which are known to both the transmitter and the receiver. The known training symbols may be provided within each burst or selected bursts of transmitted symbols, along with the payload symbols that are unknown to the receiver. Based on these known training symbols, a channel response may be estimated. The channel estimate can then be used to demodulate the unknown payload symbols.